La Gesse Column: 68 reasons to love the NCAA Tournament

Lack of top-shelf teams should create a Madness filled March … Weaker than normal crop of No. 1 seeds could allow for best chance yet at No. 16 seed upset …

ISU guard Tyrus McGee, arguably the best sixth man in the country … The way ISU guard Chris Babb celebrates threes … The way Babb shuts down defenders and keeps them from celebrating threes …

To see if Indiana coach Tom Crean will accost another coach before walking off the court … Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson, a pure gunner and best Twitter follow of the tourney … Kansas center Jeff Withey’s shot blocking …

Seeing who will inherit the Cinderella slipper from Lehigh and Norfolk State this year … The beauty of Michigan guard Trey Burke’s shot … A chance for folks to appreciate Oklahoma forward Romero Osby … And South Dakota State guard Nate Wolters … The Burke-Wolters second round matchup …

Iowa State guard Will Clyburn’s ability to take over games … Iowa State forward George Niang and his no jump 3-point shot … The Anthony Booker death stare from the ISU forward …

The chance for another Notre Dame fight, like against St. John’s in early March … That the girlfriend of Notre Dame forward Jack Cooley is an ISU fan …

That there is enough room for 15-20 Liberty squad … But not enough for an undeserving 21-11 Kentucky team … It’s gone patriotic with the inclusion of James Madison …

It’s a fitting stage for Creighton forward Doug McDermott; the nation’s most complete offensive player … The chance that Creighton coach Greg McDermott will throw down a second dunk this season, this time in an open practice ….

The offensive skills of Kansas guard Ben McLemore … Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart’s ability to swipe the basketball … A chance to see UNLV forward Anthony Bennett before he goes in the draft lottery … Same with likely draft pick Mike Muscala, a center at Bucknell …

ISU is starting to feel at home here … The way ISU guard Korie Lucious can run the fastbreak … The Cyclones’ 3-point shooting … Dayton, Ohio is easily reachable by car for Cyclone Nation …

Memphis forward Hippolyte Tsafack is the best name in the tourney … Syracuse forward Rakeem Christmas is a close runner-up … So is Florida Gulf Coast forward Filip Cvjeticanin … And Cincinnati guard Cashmere Wright … We are only five ISU and Indiana wins from a Yogi (Ferrell) and Bubu (Palo) searching for picnic baskets at the championship game …

To see if Nate Silver is as good at predicting the Final Four (he went with Louisville, Gonzaga, Florida and Indiana) as he is at election outcomes … The Wall Street Journal’s blind bracket webpage …

Somewhere an 8-year-old pulled a Ferris Bueller to stay home today … And nearby a bar is full of 48-year olds who did the same thing …

If NBA players Jason Terry or Brandon Knight tried to take a charge here they’d be applauded … It lets you make fun of the new Kansas and Cincinnati jerseys, which seem to fit better on the beach than the hardwood … Perry Ellis isn’t designing uniforms for the tourney, he’s a forward on Kansas

The Miami Heat have lost twice since Davidson last did on Jan. 14 … America’s favorite underdog Gonzaga has a legit shot to win it all …VCU coach Shaka Smart has his team posed for its annual deep run … And it’s partially due to its “Havoc” defense. Watch it and enjoy …

St. Louis is a major motion picture waiting to happen as it plays in memory of its former coach Rick Majerus, who died during the season … A traffic delay forced the Billikens to watch the selection show from a Best Buy …

Duke forward Ryan Kelly is making a run at national MVP as the Blue Devils are 18-1 with him … Finding out if a Bryce Drew coached Valparaiso team can make a March memory as everlasting as the one Drew made as Valpo player in 1998 …

Cyclone Nation can watch former coach Larry Eustachy do this thing with Colorado State … Eustachy could be in the best second-round game with Missouri …

The best big game player in the country Indiana guard Victor Oladipo, gets to play on the biggest stage … Ohio State guard Aaron Craft’s ability to defend is only topped by his ability to solve a Rubik’s cube … Georgetown forward Otto Porter Jr., who no one outside of D.C. knew about three months ago, but is one of the five best players in the country …

Miami guard Shane Larkin made Hurricane fans care about something other than football … Pacific coach Bob Thomason gets a fitting end to his career at the Big Dance …

The selection committee finally got it right by including mid-major at-large teams such as Middle Tennessee State and La Salle … The Midwest region, with coaching legends Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski, should be a battle …. The possibility of North Carolina coach Roy Williams facing his old Kansas team in the third round …

Florida Gulf Coast, with former Cyclone Eric McKnight, is the closest thing to a trendy pick there is as a No. 15 seed this year … Florida Gulf Coast coach Andy Enfield is the most interesting man in the world (he played in the NBA, built two businesses, married a super model and is now coaching in the tourney) …

This is the last America 12 Conference-free tourney (or whatever the non-Catholic school Big East will be called) … The next three weeks will be full of games as emotional and entertaining as an ISU-Kansas tilt …

This is the 75th anniversary of March Madness. Here’s to the next 75 being just as great.

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